“Tell me, how have things been, my dear?” he said quietly. “Have you heard any news of your little Tilda?”
Matilda’s heart lurched. Did Richard know? Had he ever guessed that her strange silver-haired daughter was his? She swallowed the lump in her throat with an effort and, summoning a smile, she managed to nod. “Gerald saw her in the spring. I am a grandmother, Richard.” Her eyes sparkled suspiciously for a moment and Richard found himself fighting the urge to touch her hand. “She has a little son,” she went on. “Rhys Ieuanc, young Rhys, after his grandfather, God rot him!”
Richard searched her face for a moment. “Rhys took Mallt’s castle in the end, of course.”
Her face tightened with anger. “As you say, he returned after the last of the snow with no warning and with such a strong force there was no time for the constable to summon aid. William had gone to fight in Aberteifi with Will-Rhys agreed to spare the castle only if they abandoned the campaign in his lands and came back to Hay.”
“And he agreed,” Richard said quietly. “I could not understand why. It seemed unlike William.”
She smiled ruefully. “Whoever understands William, my dear? He is a law unto himself.”
There was a long silence as the horses walked slowly on, then Richard spoke again.
“I came to Hereford with a proposition which I hope will please you. I must put it to William, but I should like your views. It touches us very closely.” His eyes were fixed on the gilded leather of the rein in his hand. She followed his gaze, noting absentmindedly how thin his hands had become, the joints slightly accentuated. “I should like my daughter, little Mattie, to marry one of your sons. If you agree I think William might find the match acceptable.”
She didn’t answer for a moment. The sun’s rays breaking through the thick treetops of the copse into which they had ridden fell across the party, throwing a gold veneer onto the horses’ coats. At the heels of her mare an excited dog suddenly began to bark, and was at once silenced by an angry command from a huntsman behind them. There was a lump in her throat when at last she spoke.
“I should like that, Richard. Above all I should like that.” She paused again. “You were thinking of Reginald, I suppose? Have they formed an attachment to one another? That is good. Giles anyway plans to take Holy Orders after Oxford and then Paris. But Reginald-oh, yes, I am sure that William would approve of a link with the house of Clare for Reginald.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Yes, it’s what I had hoped for, Richard. We have plans for the two girls, of course. Margaret is to marry Walter de Lacy and William is hoping for an alliance with the Mortimers for little Isobel, but marriages for the other two boys have not yet presented themselves. I think”-she dropped her eyes, almost embarrassed-“I think William is becoming very ambitious, Richard. I think he has set his sights very high for the future.”
Two days later Richard left. Matilda was standing in her solar, giving orders to her steward, when Elen brought him in. He was already dressed for the road.
“My lady,” he said formally. “I come to take my leave.”
Her hand clutched involuntarily at the quill with which she had been checking the lists before her. It was a moment before she could look up. “Must you leave so soon, Lord de Clare?” Behind her the steward bowed and left the room and she was conscious of Elen rounding up the ladies who had been at work with their sewing near the fire. In moments the place was empty but for themselves.
As the heavy door closed behind the last of them he caught her hands in his. The pen fell to the rushes as he raised them to his lips. “I don’t know how long it will be before we see each other again.”
“Richard!” she whispered in anguish. She clung to him blindly, raising her lips to find his as her eyes filled with tears. “I thought growing older would teach me sense,” she murmured. “I thought at least it would be easier to bear as time went on.”
He held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. “It will never grow easier, my darling, never. That is our punishment for a forbidden love.” His lips touched her eyelids gently. “If two of our children can find love with one another, perhaps that will ease our own pain. At least William has agreed in principle to the idea.”
She nodded, unable to speak, clinging to him desperately.
“I have to go,” he said at last. Gently he tried to release himself from her arms.
“I know.” She clung to him even harder. “Oh, Richard, take care of yourself, my dear.” She reached up for a final kiss. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, then at last Richard straightened and firmly pushed her away.
“We will meet again.” He forced himself to smile. “Who knows, maybe at Mattie and Reginald’s wedding, God willing!” He caught her hand and kissed it quickly, then he turned and swung out of the tall, vaulted chamber and disappeared, his spurs ringing on the stone of the staircase as he ran down toward the entrance to the keep. Behind him Matilda began to cry.
“That’s enough!” Nick crossed the room in two strides. His eyes were blazing. “Wake her up. Quickly!”
Tears were pouring down Jo’s face as she spoke, her words almost unintelligible through the violence of her sobs.
He sat down beside her, his arm around her shoulders. “Wake her up, man. She’s had enough!”
Sam pushed himself away from the wall against which he had been leaning. “Don’t interfere, Nick. Grief is all part of life’s rich pattern. She sinned. She has to suffer.” His voice was heavy with irony. “Surely you of all people would agree with that.”
Nick glared at him and, as Bennet and his colleagues watched, the concern and anguish vanished from his face to be replaced by cold anger. “She is weeping for Richard de Clare!” he said through clenched teeth. “One of John’s advisers and even his friend! Dear God! She mocks me, even now! Flaunting her love of the man and rejecting me. Me! As if I were no one.”
They stared in astonishment at the arrogant fury of his expression, so unlike anything that anyone who knew Nick had ever seen, and they saw the color run up his neck to suffuse his face.
Bennet stood up hastily. “Steady, my friend,” he said, laying his hand on Nick’s arm. “Jo was mocking no one. Couldn’t you see how she was being torn?”
Nick shook off the hand and dragged his eyes away from Jo’s face, visibly struggling within himself, his jaws clenched as he stared at Bennet. He was looking straight through him as if he weren’t there, oblivious of the presence of anyone else in the room. The sweat was standing out on his forehead.
Bennet glanced at Sam. “What is wrong with him?” he said sharply. “This man is possessed in some way!”
Sam shook his head. “As I told you, I suspect my brother has an incipient mood disorder,” he said quietly. “It is becoming less easy to hide-”
“Rubbish!” Bennet snapped. He clicked his fingers in front of Nick’s face. “He is as much in a trance as Jo. He has been hypnotized-but not by me. I think this is a reversion of some kind. Has he been having hypnotherapy, do you know? Or trying regression himself?”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Under the circumstances, would you be surprised if he had?”
“No.” Bennet looked up at him and pushed his glasses onto the top of his head. “I am merely concerned in case he has entrusted himself to someone who is less than competent.” The two men held one another’s gaze for a long moment. It was Sam who looked away first.
“I am sure he wouldn’t do that.” Sam did not bother to hide his amusement. “Why don’t you ask him what he’s been up to?” He turned to Nick. “Nicholas, you are making a fool of yourself, brother,” he said sharply. “Wake up! Look at all these keen scientific minds watching your performance!”
Nick glanced around. For a moment he looked bewildered. Then he gave a sheepish grin, the anger gone from his face. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t know what I was saying-”
“That’s all right,” Bennet said slowly. He was scrutinizing Nick closely. “You didn’t say anything to worry about. Now, let’s see what we can do for Jo, shall we? It is, after all, she we have come to discuss.” He glanced around at the others. “Does anyone want to question her further before I awaken her? No? Right, then.”
Jo stared around the room blankly for a moment as she regained her awareness of the present day. Her nose was swollen, her eyes streaming. Unobtrusively Sarah picked up a box of tissues and put them down on the sofa beside her. Jo grabbed one. “Sorry,” she said miserably. “It’s so silly to be upset. I can’t seem to stop crying.”
“I’ll make coffee,” Sarah said softly. “For everyone. I think that should be the next priority before anyone asks any questions.”
